Day 2, Wednesday July 18

It’s once again Paléo time! This year I picked the day in which the line-up appealed the most to me. And it couldn’t have been anything else than Wednesday 18th of July, featuring Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, MGMT and The Killers, an evening headlined by American bands.

The Village du Monde is this year dedicated to the South of Europe, which you can explore through arts and music as well as food.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Les Arches, 7:45pm-9pm

The dark and unmistakable bass line and riffs of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club resound on the grounds of the plaine de l’Asse. Rigorously wearing black leather jackets, singers Robert Turner and Peter Hayes must be very hot.

Keeping the riffs simple but so hypnotically beautiful, the US rock band takes the audience on a trip through an attractive dark carousel of sounds. Throughout the gig drummer Leah Shapiro totally gets the audience’s attention for the powerful beats she plays. A rock music that runs through your veins shaking the night away.

MGMT, Les Arches, 10:15pm-11:15pm

Plants on stage and psychedelic visual effects welcome the audience of Paléo Festival into MGMT’s dreamy psycho rock world. The American band plunges the audience straight away in an ocean of colours, psychedelic sounds mixed with guitar riffs. Half-way through the concert the singer jumps on a exercise bike, cycling while singing. Not a bad idea having a workout during a concert!

Psychedelic videos on the screen accompany the sound trip through which MGMT takes the audience, from “Electric Feel” to “The Youth”. Passing through their infamously beautiful “Kids”, broken off by an impressively tasteful electronic digression.

The Killers, Grande Scène, 11:30pm-1am

The Killers, directly from fabulous Las Vegas Nevada, shake Paléo Festival Nyon with their spaced alternative-rock peppered with dreamy beats. Singer Brandon Flowers shows off his bright white smile throughout the show, pushing the audience to clap along.

For “All These Things That I Have Done” he asks the audience to sing the words “I got soul but I’m not a soldier” in a crescendo of sounds and voices which bursts into the refrain of the song.

Accompanying The Killers live there are quite a lot of musicians as well as three very talented female vocalists, echoing the singer.

Special effects are not missing either, with colourful confetti and fire coming down from the top of the stage, leaving the audience admiring the sky in awe.

From “Somebody Told Me” to “Human”, The Killers’ hit tunes do not need any presentation anymore. Although the band is quite energetic and the music is engaging, the audience seems a bit sleepy and not very participative, or maybe I am just standing in the wrong spot.

Last but not least, their “Mr. Brightside”, played first in a slower and rather electronic version, namely that of Jacques Lu Cont’s Thin White Duke Remix and then bursting into the unique indie-rock guitar riffs and drums beats of its opening. And suddenly the audience wakes up, jumping and singing along to it.

What an amazing rock night!